Promising Practices and Toolkits > Toolkits
Count Me In! Tools for an Inclusive Ontario
Developed by the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse (OPC) as part of the project Developing a Social and Economic Inclusion Toolkit for Ontario Communities
Are you concerned about how individuals are included in our communities and how communities are included in society? Learn how to build the capacity of communities to be more inclusive with the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse’s Count Me In! Toolkit. Developed with intensive and rigorous community input, this leads you step to step to develop inclusive community programs. The toolkit is centred on the idea of inclusion –the feeling and reality of belonging- and translates it into understandable everyday terms. This widely applicable toolkit will challenge you to think in novel ways through the social determinants of health. This is a toolkit that can be used by community developer or by community groups on their own.
Download the English version of the toolkit on www.count-me-in.ca and the French version on www.jen-fais-partie.ca. You'll find the toolkit, a report on the phase II project, plus other work that OPC has done on inclusion.
The Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse (OPC) provided the two following sessions at the OCASI Professional Development Conference, October 17-19, 2007:
‘Count me in!’ A toolkit for Developing Inclusive Community Programs
Download a copy of their presentation - PDF format (435 KB, 26 pages).
Community Engagement as Health Promotion
Download a copy of their presentation - PDF format (287 KB, 21 pages).
If your organization is interested in these training sessions, please contact Subha Sankaran at s.sankaran@opc.on.ca or Peggy Schultz, p.schultz@opc.on.ca, Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse.
Capacity Building and Strengthening for Ethnocultural Communities: A Toolkit for Trainers
This tool kit was produced by the Canadian Ethnocultural Council (CEC) in the year 2005. It is a guide which can be used to inform ethno-cultural communities about what it takes to organize, sustain, and develop in the ever-growing voluntary sector. The tool kit is designed to help individuals who are working or volunteering in ethno-cultural or multicultural organizations.
The tool kit contains units on governance, volunteering, advocacy, funding, youth involvement, conflict resolution and media relations. Although each unit could be a workshop, the tool kit is designed for a two-day training session. It uses case histories, examples, information from experts who have worked with ethno-cultural communities, and data gathered from participants of the training sessions held across Canada.
Among the many tools offered, you may want to check on Appendix III, Why Am I volunteering? (PDF format - 73 KB, 3 pages). This exercise offers a useful and simple to use tool to help in identifying reasons for volunteering.
Download this complete toolkit on the CEC website.
For further information contact the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, 176 Gloucester Street, Suite 400, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0A6; Telephone: 613-230-3867; Fax: 613-230-8051; E-mail: cec@web.ca
Pathways to Change: Facilitating the Full Participation of Diversity Groups in Canadian Society
This tool has been developed to help organizations to identify where their projects fit and where they need to advance their work within the broader scheme to combat prejudice and racism, foster systemic change, and ensure that all residents of Canada can fully participate in and benefit from the opportunities enjoyed by most Canadians.
As shown in the Model, there is more than one route to these ends, but all pathways lead to full civic engagement, especially for those which have traditionally been denied access to power and opportunity. The Model summarizes many smaller steps along the way, which are detailed in five strategies that link to the overall Pathways to Change Model.
The strategies will help organizations to clearly delineate what their project seeks to achieve in both the short and longer terms; what will be different at the conclusion of the project and, hopefully, over time; the pathway by which the longer-term outcomes will be achieved; how the project has been conceptualized in an "if-then" format; and which indicators could be used to identify progress toward the desired outcomes.
This tool was developed in the year 2006 for the Alberta Community Development, Human Rights and Citizenship and the Department of Canadian Heritage, Alberta District by Merrill Cooper, Guyn Cooper Research Associates.
Download a copy here - PDF format (300 KB, 8 pages).
Pathways to Gender Justice - A Tool Kit for People Working in the Immigrant and Refugee Serving Sector in Canada
This tool kit is designed for use by individuals for personal and professional development and by groups, for training sessions, educational workshops, program evaluation, policy review, policy development, staff meetings, annual general meetings, etc. It is intended for people working in or accessing services in the immigrant and refugee serving sector in Canada (and abroad, where applicable), including front-line workers, service users, students, volunteers, managers, executive directors, board members, umbrella associations, and municipal, provincial and federal government departments and employees. Feel free to make copies of this kit, or parts of it, for use by your group, staff, community or committee.
In its VISION, the toolkit indicates that:
"All immigrants and refugees will be able to participate fully and in the manner that they choose in Canadian society, in full respect of their human rights. The integration process will be one of positive mutual change in which newcomers and the host society enrich each other, work to overcome all forms of oppression, including gender oppression, and learn to celebrate gender diversity."
This toolkit was produced by the Canadian Council for Refugees. Download a copy here.
If your organization is interested in a training session using this kit please contact Paulina Maciulis at the OCASI office: pmaciulis@ocasi.org.
Organizing Ethno-cultural Seniors for Action: A "how-to" resource guide to effectively empower multicultural seniors to advocate for better community services
This resource guide seeks to assist agencies and organizations that work with or anticipate working with ethno-cultural seniors in complex urban contexts. It is based on the successes and challenges experienced and faced by the Ethno-Cultural Seniors Advocacy Project (ECSAP) operating in Rexdale, Ontario.
This guide illustrates how ethno-cultural seniors in diverse urban locales can bridge their multicultural differences and unite to advocate for better community services for all regardless of ethnic background. The learning and successes of these phases have been pulled together in this guide for community workers, in the following sections:
- How to Lay a Foundation
- How to Make Contact
- How to Train and Mobilize
- How to Evaluate Success
Renaissance50plus
Recent trends indicate an alarming decline in "older adult" volunteering; yet, it is a generation booming in numbers and a virtually untapped resource of priceless knowledge, skills, and experiences. Many older adults want to use their experiences to help guide communities, but most are not doing so. The Government of Ontario has funded this project for the Catholic Immigration Centre of Ottawa to "re-engage" this vital cohort.
Renaissance50plus aims to bridge the gap between the needs of the skilled “50+” volunteer and the needs of the community.
Specifically, the project is developing and testing new participatory techniques that focus on volunteer expectations while promoting community participation and the mandate of the Catholic Immigration Centre.
By sharing lessons learned we expect to facilitate the participation of an increased number of skilled volunteers from many walks of life across Ontario.
The objectives of this project include:
- Improve the capacity of voluntary organizations to recruit, manage and retain volunteers.
- Increase knowledge on issues, trends, and gaps that helps to inform the development of effective volunteer management practices and volunteer participation.
- Improve the capacity of volunteer organizations to be inclusive and reflect the diversity of their communities.
Please visit www.Renaissance50plus.ca to learn more and to participate in this innovative and exiting new project.